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Wednesday, April 30, 2014

After a year at the Academy, Rose is sent back to Ar Cena - minus her memory of the past year. As she tries to fit back in to her human life with relative success, her magic returns.

An unsuccessful kidnap attempt by rogue mages of the North sends her back to Lotheria, where she is taken prisoner by the Academy Masters. Confused and manipulated, she bargains a way home with the Masters by guaranteeing the only thing they want from her; the death of Phoenix.

But the Masters are yet to realise what they've truly unleashed...

As Sky's destiny returns to haunt her once again, she realises she can't ignore who she is any longer.

5 out of 5 stars

Aprille Legacy really outdid herself with Soul Blaze! Words can't even express how much I enjoyed reading this book. With so many twists and turns in the plot, I was constantly wondering what was going to happen next. There was never a dull moment and the story-line flowed effortlessly. The characters are brilliantly developed and not only exciting, but intriguing as well. With vivid descriptions and attention to detail, the reader can't help but imagine themselves right there in the story witnessing it firsthand. I am eagerly awaiting the final installment of this amazing trilogy!

Riley Wellman has a secret. That night she was supposedly lost in a dark street in the middle of nowhere? She wasn't. She was running away from her future; an unwanted future arranged by her rich family.

Private investigator Evan Sager has a secret too. So when he has to rescue Riley from the bad guys he's been pursuing for months, he's not amused.

Now Riley is making him feel things he's not supposed to feel anymore, and if he can't manage to keep his hands off her, it might destroy everything he's worked for. Again.

THE LYING GAME is a serial (each part is about 40 pages and ends in a cliffhanger). This is part 1 of 3.

Young Adult Sci-Fi

Date Published: February 14, 2014

The end of humanity will come through the Silver Sickle . . .

Farissa lives every moment with reckless abandon, for it may be her last. Any day now, the alien goddesses will harvest her and take her to the mysterious Silver Sickle, never to return. She’s accepted that. What she can’t accept is this new idea of freedom Zel has planted in her head. She’d give almost anything to be with Zel, but how can she run from her destiny if it means putting the whole kingdom in danger?

Everyone in the desert kingdom believes the goddesses are immortal, but Zel has invented a way to kill them. Now all he has to do is convince Farissa to run away with him and plant a seed of hope in her heart that she’s not destined to die. Little does he know that one seed of hope could change the course of the future.

EXCERPT:

“I don’t know why the King doesn't have
you in his harem.” His lewdness made her want to poke his eyes out with a
scorpion claw. “I’d land you in bed any chance I could.”

Farissa took the money from her wallet.
Still holding her breath, she tried not to move or else the great anger roiling
in her might explode like a volcano. She kept her eyes down until she felt him
reach over the counter.

“But I guess I can see why he doesn’t
want you.” He touched a strand of her undone hair. “You are rather rough around
the edges.”

For a moment she considered taking the
crate and leaving. But something gave her pause. It wasn't simply the haughty
expression on his overinflated features that made her angry. It was his eyes
that glanced at her and didn’t see a person, only meat.

She wanted to take something from him, as
he’d done to her.

So she tilted her head up and said,
"I willnottake this load of sawdust. It is too
thin. And it isn't even made of carrizo like you promised. Are you trying to
get me in trouble with my uncle? There's no way he'd accept this."

The man leaned forward, his fat belly
bulging over the counter. Farissa tried not to gag on the stench of his breath.
"This reed is as fresh as they come. It’s exactly what Hurin uses to keep
his cogs dry."

"Well." Farissa
sniffed. "We are not Hurin. There's no way I'm paying fifty for this
crate of rough-hewn shoe soles. Twenty, perhaps. But not fifty."

Now the man was visibly angry. “You think
me a fool? There's no way I'm letting this go for twenty."

“Do you know who I am?” she said,
straightening to her full height.

The man started to smile. But the smile
disappeared when Farissa continued. “I bet a man like you has heard of the
Tyrant of Toureen.”

She covered her mouth and nose with her
scarf, leaving only her eyes uncovered as she did every race. “You may have
heard how I sliced off the Sand Lord’s finger with my dagger during the
Nooching Race when he tried to cut my reins. Or maybe you’ve heard of the
pileup on the Ghutan Trail, when I threw a rock at a lead horse and took out it
and the four riders behind it.” The man backed away from the counter, rubbing
his sweaty hands on his shirt. But Farissa wasn’t about to stop. “But surely
you’ve heard of the fight after Reish, when the Nail Eater drew a knife on me and
he ended up unconscious. You know what he’s called now? Hm?”

The man shook his hand so his fleshy
cheeks wobbled.

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Meet Ellie Ann:

Ellie Ann was born in the jungles of Thailand, was raised in a small farming village in Iowa, lived in the middle of a Texan desert, and now abides in the Ozarks.She is an award winning snake charmer, goat cheese maker, and nose flutist. She also likes to make up tall tales, so you can’t trust everything she says. But from some deductions and second-hand accounts, it looks like she’s an author of science fiction, comics, thrillers, and multi-media adventure stories.

She’s a producer for Noble Beast, an enhanced book publisher, and an editor for Stonehouse Ink and several bestselling clients. You can find her new multi-media fairy tale, Slice of Life, on sale for iPad at iTunes.

Come say 'hi!' she doesn’t bite. Unless she’s been turned into a zombie.

Ellie Ann is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of science fiction, thrillers, and comics.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

WARNING: Spark contains sexy neighbors who love getting it on… with each other. Graphic language and sex scenes abound. Be advised, this is no sweet romance. Contains hard pumping and ridiculous sexual situations and scenes to make your toes curl. If you can finish Spark without getting hot and bothered, I would check for a pulse. 18+ only!

Newlyweds Violet and Hunter are new in PussyWillow Falls, and they’re loving it.

Everything is beautiful, including the people.

Things heat up FAST when Violet satisfies her husband while they both watch a menage a trois over the fence going on in their neighbors backyard.

But, when the mailman, the paper boy and all the neighbors come calling for a piece of the Violet and Hunter action, was PussyWillow Falls a swinging paradise, or a swinging hell?

~Excerpt~

“Jack, this is Violet, one of the new neighbors from across the street,” Julia told him.

Reaching across, he grabbed my hand and leaned down and placed his lips on the back of it. My cheeks burned, and the feel of his lips on my hand was making my temperature rise by at least ten degrees. “Nice to make your acquaintance, Violet, but I'm afraid that I'm going to have to make this short and sweet, as I have to get ready for work and be on the road in less than ten minutes.”

Stripping off his boxer shorts, he stood in front of me for what felt like minutes, until he finally walked away with this huge baton swinging between his legs.

Julia slapped him on his bare ass, and then turned back to her coffee like it was no big deal. I was starting to see that Julia and her husband were very comfortable in their own skin and didn't mind public displays of affection, or nudity.

“My apologies for my husband; he really doesn't have a shy bone in his body.”

I didn't know what to say, and the fact that I had just seen my new neighbor completely naked had taken me aback a bit. Drinking my cup of coffee, I was soon to see Jack come out in a very expensive tailored suit that probably cost more than the first car I owned.

“Wow, he really does clean up well.”

I couldn't get the image of his huge length out of my mind, and then began to play over certain images of him taking me from behind and pulling my hair at the same time.

“I know that look, and I see that my husband has made a lasting impression on you.”

There was no denying the fact that he had a massive length, and that his body was cut out of stone and doing some remarkable things to my libido, but I wasn’t going to admit that to her.

“Hey, you have nothing to worry about from me, as my husband and I have a very open relationship, and I think you know what I mean by that.”

She was actually giving me permission to fantasize about her husband Jack, and maybe even take it to another level altogether. Ever since Jamaica, I had seen sex as something that I could truly get used to having on a daily basis. Now that I have had some of the best sex of my life, I wanted to do some comparison-shopping and see what else was out there that could tickle my fancy. It's just that I didn't think I was that type of person to turn to another, especially when I had a very caring and supportive husband at home.

“No, no… looking will do just fine.” I think that she was a little disappointed at my reaction, and was hoping that she was going to be able to convince me to slide into their matrimonial bed. “Hunter isn't that type of man, and I don't think I am that type of woman.”

“Jack and I were exactly like you ten years ago, but we have since found that we like to experiment with other like-minded individuals. If you have to take a few baby steps, then I would suggest that you come over for the barbecue this weekend, and you can meet some of our neighbors and maybe see if anything else catches your attention.”

Running her hand down my arm, she was licking her lips and looking at me like she wanted to jump on top of me.

“I will talk it over with Hunter.” Pulling away from her was a little bit more difficult than I imagined, as her fingers dug into my skin, as if she desperately wanted to keep me sitting beside her and talking about the birds and the bees.

It wasn't like I was adverse to anything else, but just didn't know if I was the type of person who could find myself having sex with somebody who wasn't my husband. My parents always taught me that a marriage was built on trust and honesty, and when one person stepped out on the other, it usually meant that the relationship wasn't as strong as they both believed it be.

Within the walls of a centuries-old building lies the magical Library of Illumination, a place where books literally come to life. 17-year-old Johanna Charette is the youngest curator ever chosen to oversee the day-to-day operation of the library and she knows, in case of trouble, having an assistant can be invaluable, so she hires 16-year-old Jackson Roth to give her a hand. Jackson gets off to a rocky start, but manages to prove his mettle. Besides, he’s kind of cute and a lot of fun.

Johanna is charming and brilliant—and a natural born leader. She keeps the library operating on an even keel. Jackson is clever and intrepid. He relies on his wits to keep them out of danger when trouble arises. Unfortunately, his derring-do is one of the reasons why they sometimes find themselves in awkward situations. So it shouldn’t be any surprise when his wanton curiosity sparks a journey to a distant realm, where they end up with front row seats in a battle against an ancient foe.

EXCERPT

“What’s this? Jackson asked, picking up a book that sat by itself on a bottom shelf. A thick layer of dust obscured the cover. “Did you leave this book down here?”

“What book?”

He opened the book to a random page to see what it was about. Dracula suddenly loomed over him, blood dripping from his mouth. “Uhhh ...!” Jackson’s scream did not get past his throat.

Dracula moved in for the kill. The teen managed to slam the book shut just as the vampire’s teeth made contact with his skin.

“What are you doing?” Johanna poked her head around the corner of the shelf and spotted the blood on Jackson’s neck. She looked down and recognized the volume of Dracula by Bram Stoker and winced. “We must have missed that one. Are you all right?”

Jackson swiped at his neck.

“Come with me.” Johanna led him to the circulation desk. She took out a first-aid kit and cleaned away the blood with an antiseptic wipe.

“Am I ...?”

“It’s just a surface wound.” She wrapped the bloody wipe in a tissue and threw it in the wastebasket. “You’re going to live ... but not forever.”

Jackson sighed with relief. “You know, when my mother used to patch me up, she would kiss it to make it better.” He raised his eyebrows and grinned at her.

“If you got hurt working for Larry at Once A-Pawn A Time, would you ask him to kiss it to make it better?”

“You really know how to hurt me.”

Johanna laughed. She leaned in and lightly kissed Jackson’s neck.

He could feel the hairs along his nape tingle.

“All better?” she asked.

About the Author : Carol Pack

C. A. PACK, author of Code Name: Evangeline, Evangeline’s Ghost, and the Library of Illumination novelettes, is an award-winning journalist and former television news anchor/writer from Long Island, New York.

Dr. Anne Montgomery’s heart and soul belongs to Adam Whitney but her tyrannical husband, Carter Montgomery, continues his ruthless reign by punishing Anne with another murder. Will Carter succeed and take away everyone Anne has ever cared about?

Family.

Something Anne has craved since childhood. Dr. Casey Adler has been the only one Anne considered a sister, until Claire Monroe enters her life. Can her newfound sister be trusted?

Betrayal.

Someone close to Anne is helping Carter and everyone is a suspect. As revenge consumes her, she slips further away from Adam but will unexpected news thrust her into the darkness, or will Anne battle the demons and take her life back?

EXCERPT

If Anne had ever felt Montgomery blood course through her veins it was in that moment. Every cell boiled beneath her skin. Murder was the only thought in her mind—severe, merciless murder. The kind that would tantalize viewers to gawk at their television screens as helicopters flew over the grotesque scene as a dismembered body was rolled into the back of a black windowless van. The headline would read, “Wife attacked psychotic drug-addicted husband.” And won.

Anne’s emotion paralyzed as did her muscles. She knew fear. Experienced loss, anger, and hatred, tasted betrayal and revenge. What skimmed along her reasoning was new. Darker than anything she had ever felt before. The smell of death burned her nostrils and blood seeped into the floor like crimson polish.

In the early morning hours, as Anne slept in Adam’s arms, Carter had invaded the house, cut out another piece of her sanity and then vanished into the night. Carter was the phantom in children’s bedtime stories. The monster that could slip through the shadows, steal souls and taint dreams. Carter was not only Anne’s husband, but also her nightmare.

Bites pricked her heart the longer she stared at Robert’s executed body. Anne’s vision blurred and moved and at times tricked her mind into seeing movement from him but he was dead. Robert was dead. Carter had invaded Michael’s home to make a statement. He would never let Anne go.

Dr. Anne Jamison, a brilliant neuropsychiatrist, is living the concrete jungle life in Minneapolis with her fiancé, prominent attorney Adam Whitney. But the mysterious death of Carter Leeds, her beloved former boyfriend, still haunts her…

After three years of unanswered questions, a mysterious package finds its way to Anne. The note inside reveals the possibility that Carter may, in fact, be alive. Even more shocking, her very own fiancé may have had a hand in his attempted demise. Anne doesn’t know what—or who—to believe, and the deeper she digs, the more she is overcome by a dangerous game of cat and mouse. But will Anne’s trust be restored—or will she be the one left plotting revenge?

Andrea was born a Midwestern girl, grew up in Iowa and South Dakota. She came out of the womb writing, her parents have recorded evidence of Andrea's whimsical imagination. She has had many poems and short stories published over the years, even did free verse sessions at a local coffee shop but there aren’t any recorded evidence of that. Andrea is thankful for the lack of technology in the 90's.

After twenty-nine trips around the sun, she decided it was time to sit down and write her first book. And, she did. Two weeks before her 30th birthday, Andrea completed, Deadly Deception. Sadly, it sat in her laptop for two years before she decided to self-publish in November 2012.

Montlake Romance loved Deadly Deception and Deadly Redemption so much, they wanted them and their author. Andrea and Montlake Romance decided to interweave the two stories into one novel. The "new" Deadly Deception released October 8th, 2013. The 2nd book in the series, Deadly Revelation, released April 8th, 2014.

Andrea resides in North Carolina with her quirky family, where she homeschools her son and writes about the craziness that pours from her mind. Her son, Logan, has caught the writing bug. He talks about being on the Autism Spectrum and homeschooling at his very own blog, The Quirky Mustache. Logan has touched many lives and is her hero.

Monday, April 28, 2014

To Know Meby Marcy Blesy(To Know Me #1)Publication date: August 21st 2013Genres: Romance, Young Adult~Synopsis~To know me is to die.Seventeen-year-old Mae is convinced that the consequences of her poor decisions have caused the untimely deaths of her dad, sister Laura, and grandma who all die within a year, no matter how ludicrous her thoughts seem to those she loves. The solution? Run away so no one else she cares for gets hurt (even if she has to keep a GPS tracker on her phone at all times).Desperate to earn her diploma and salvage something of her life, she transfers schools when people get too close. After switching to Woodson Prep with only two months to go until graduation, Mae keeps her goals in sight. But when she meets Ty, the “perfect boy” with his own secrets and a relentless interest in Mae, she must decide if she can stop running from the past and still protect those she loves.___TO KNOW ME is the first book in a new YA romance series that follows Mae from her senior year in high school through her first two years in college as she learns to accept the consequences of her past mistakes that keep impacting the relationships with those she loves...and those she shouldn't. Out now: TO KNOW ME...TO LOVE ME...TO FORGIVE ME...and coming in summer 2014: TO CHOOSE ME.

~Excerpt~

To know me is to die. I mean, to really know me, like when you know I can run for hours without so much as a water break, or that cinnamon sugar doughnuts are my weakness, or that my dad gave me a whole different name. But I don’t let people get that close. I’ve learned the hard way. Too many people die in my life. Grandma said I was only unlucky.

“It’s not your fault all those people you love die. It’s just bad luck that you’ve had to deal with grief so young. Not fair at all,” she’d said. That was right before she died on my seventeenth birthday and right after my sister Laura, my dad, and my dog Petie.

I direct Mom Number 4 toward the front door of the high school. I always get a new mom when I transfer schools. I have yet to find a school that allows a seventeen-year-old to register herself. I wanted to graduate in Ohio, but too many people started asking questions. They weren’t important questions. Just stuff like, “How come I can’t ever come over to your house?” or “Why won’t you ever talk about yourself?” or when I do, “That’s not what you told so-and-so.” I had to leave. To let people into my life isn’t an option anymore. But, there’re no worries anyone will start to ask questions here. It’s already March. That diploma is as good as mine. Then I can enroll in online college and try to salvage something of my pathetic life.

Marcy Blesy is the author of several middle grade and young adult novels and short stories. Her picture book, Am I Like My Daddy?, helps children who experienced the loss of a parent when they were much younger. She has also been published in two Chicken Soup for the Soul books as well as various newspapers and magazines. By day she runs an elementary school library and enjoys spending time with her husband and two boys.

Marcy is a believer in love and enjoys nothing more than making her readers feel a book more than simply reading it. She likes to connect with her readers via twitter (@marcyblesy), email (mablesy(at)yahoo.com), or her blog(www.marcyblesy.com).

“The world, it seemed, had gone silent. It was something we knew but did not talk about. We were alone.”While Layla Petrovich returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother, she never could have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich has foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla’s cool head, fast blade and itchy trigger finger to survive the undead apocalypse that’s upon them. But even that may not be enough. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone. As the beings living on the fringe seek power, Layla must find a way to protect the ones she loves or all humanity may be lost.This exciting new dark fantasy/horror hybrid blends the best of the zombie genre with all the elements a fantasy reader loves!It’s all fun and games until someone ends up undead!

Melanie Karsak grew up in rural northwestern Pennsylvania and earned a Master's degree in English from Gannon University. A steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and zombie whisperer, the author currently lives in Florida with her husband and two children. She is an Instructor of English at Eastern Florida State College.

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Some of the books that are featured on this blog have been provided by the author, publisher, NetGalley or other third party sites in exchange for an honest review. I receive no monetary compensation or other consideration for any reviews, and the opinions expressed in the reviews on this site are done with honesty and are not swayed by any outside factors.